@aryatabibzadeh

Furthermore, I discus some motivations for composing Perso-Arabic macaronic verses and finally, provide some data from Abū Nuwās’ macaronics significant for Persian historical linguistics

In the second part, I analyze the structure of Perso-Arabic macaronic verses in Arabic poetry, focusing on those composed by Abū Nuwās, and introduce two types of the macaronic verses distinguished based on the way that the Persian elements are embedded in their Arabic context.

where Fārisiyyah denotes ANY Iranian language spoken by Persians and NOT ONLY New Persian -or the same al-dariyyah or Darī- (I owe this point to dear Professor Ali Ashraf Sadeghi).

Thus, the term has a similar denotation to the general meaning of the word Fārisiyyah in the Medieval Arabic texts, as well as the medieval Persian texts influenced by Arabic sources,

It is noteworthy that the term Fārisiyyāt in this recent meaning (i.e. Perso-Arabic macaronic texts), denotes Arabic literary works containing non-Arabic linguistic elements that were taken not only from early New Persian, but also from other Iranian language such as Middle Persian and Sogdian.

After Minovi, this term, which could now refer to any Perso-Arabic macaronic poetic or prose text, became so common among both Iranian and Western scholars that its origin was forgotten. It was even occasionally considered a traditional term in Arabic literature.

In fact, it was Mojtaba Minovi (1954) who used Fārisiyyāt for the first time as a term for Abū Nuwās’ macaronic verses.

It is shown that there is no attestation of the word Fārisiyyah (pl. Fārisiyyāt) in medieval Arabic and Persian texts as a term referring to such macaronic texts, and instead, Fārisiyyah/Fārisiyyāt simply designates the Persian language itself, or Persian words, or works composed in Persian.

The present paper consists of two parts: in the first part, I discuss the history of the use of the term Fārisiyyāt to refer Arabic texts -mostly poetic but also prose texts- that features Persian linguistic elements -such as words, phrases and sentences- embedded in the Arabic context.

In the dissertation, each couplet is accompanied by a Persian translation, and the ambiguities and the difficulties of some couplets are elucidated in the commentary.

This edition is based on numerous and significant manuscripts of the Dīwān, including its three well-known 10th-century recensions and  the critical edition of the Dīwān of Abū Nuwās by Ewald Wagner and Gregor Schoeler (Abū Nuwās 1972-2006) as well.

The dissertation provides a thorough discussion of Perso-Arabic macaronic verses (also known as Fārisiyyāt) attributed to Abū Nuwās (c.a. 8th-9th CE), focusing mostly on data relevant to Persian historical linguistics, and presents a critical edition of over 240 such couplets.

This paper is based on my master’s dissertation, which I have recently defended at University of Tehran (Tabibzadeh 2025).

My new paper (in Persian):

Linguistic and Literary Notes (5): Notes on Abū Nuwās’ Fārisiyyāt ‘Perso-Arabic
Macaronic Verses’

Available on my Academia:

www.academia.edu/144377941/Li...

New article alert!

Join us in exploring a phrase from Ibn Saʿīd al-Maghribī’s 13th-c. geography. He refers to the Damādim of northeast Africa as “Tatars of the Sūdān.” Hannah Barker interrogates the racializing discourses at play in such comparative claims.

[image: British Library Or 1524]

Welcome to Middle East Medievalists MEM is an international professional non-profit association of scholars interested in the study of the medieval Middle East.

as always, you don't need to be a member of @mideastmedieval.bsky.social to read/submit to al-ʿUsur al-wusta. however, membership dues help keep the journal running. please consider becoming a MEMber today. while you’re at it, check out all the other stuff MEM is up to!

How long must I suppress my youth, as if I were already old?

Give me a glass of wine cheering for my land, Iran

So, I roar freedom’s cry—from the depths of my soul!

So, I achieve the honor of happiness!

The full video on:
youtu.be/6xOIlx3gBfA?...

One like, one Arabic linguistics opinion

Can't believe this is the first time I'm seeing this but this is from Sibawayh, beautiful evidence for the lateral fricative nature of the Dâd: if you remove iTbâq from the Dâd you don't get a dâl, but a lâm!

Vowel quality as a history maker: Stress, metaphony and the renewal of Proto-Semitic morphology in Modern South Arabian The right of Patience Epps, Danny Law and Na'ama Pat-El to be identified as the authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual chapters, has been asserted in accordance...

Note to self: don't decide you'll talk about Modern South Arabian historical vocalism in your comparative Semitics class again.

My brain is thoroughly broken.

For those who want to suffer along, check out the very difficult but excellent paper by Dufour:

www.academia.edu/70038716/Vow...

yes, but specimens only found in Russia (near Smolensk), Estonia, Finland, &Sweden. none in the former Khaganate. its association with Khazars is based only on the name Moses-- doesn't name ard al-Khazar mint.

Idc abt truth of conversion. just pointing out that every Khazar source has a "yes, but"

Detail from an Arabic-language manuscript showing a waqf stamp impression from the library of Rashid al-Din

So this is really cool: a stamp impression from the library of the Ilkhanid vizier Rashid al-Din (d. 1318). It reads “pious endowment [waqf] of the Rashidiyya library,” & it may have been inspired by Chinese prints/stamps. Stamped waqf notices are totally unheard of for this time!

2024 – Gender and Number Agreement in Early Christian Arabic Manuscripts: A Historically 'Middle' Feature The topic of gender and number agreement in Arabic has garnered significant interest in recent years, culminating in the recent monograph by Bettega and D'Anna (2023). The picture that has emerged...

New publication: www.academia.edu/127029112/20...

My attempt to investigate this feature in a corpus of early 'Middle' Arabic texts and say something more interesting than is typical. I interact with lots of good scholarship on this feature in other corpora, as well, which is worth reading

The article is open access, so you can read, download, & share it here:

My new paper, published in @alusuralwusta.bsky.social !

journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/al...

My latest article, studying a unique gospel translation via three MS witnesses – is out in BSOAS: www.academia.edu/108303483/20...

'Shirt' and 'skirt' are doublets: they both stem from Proto-Germanic *skurtijōn.

'Shirt' was inherited. It underwent the sound changes that turned Proto-Germanic into English.

'Skirt' was borrowed from another Germanic language: Old Norse.

The finale of my series: Germanic doublets in English.